授業と友達 ・ Classes and friends

この最初の一週間はまだ終わっていないけど、書きたい経験が多かったので、今書くことにした。

最初の授業は日本語と文化だった。今週、全部の授業は自己紹介や授業の説明ばかりなので、まだあまり面白くないけど、日本語の授業で「他己紹介」ということをさせられた。みんなは２人ずつにして、相手に自己紹介してから、みんなの前に相手のことを紹介したんだ。アメリカではそんなことがないと思うから、間違いをしてしまった。みんなの前に相手のことを紹介しようとしたら、「これは」と言って、みんなはすぐに笑った。相手は「僕はものではないですけど」と言って、先生は「こちらは」と言ったほうが正しいですって言った。ん、その文法を勉強したことがあるけれど、その当時まで、使う機会はなかったので、使わなかった。恥ずかしかったけど、まあ、その間違いを二度としないと思う。笑

日本語の授業は終わった後、写真部を探しに行った。そうしたら、クラブハウスというビルに入った。そのビルは少し怖いな。笑　「黄昏乙女ｘアムネジア」というアニメを思い出させた。中は暗くて、汚れて割れがいっぱい底と壁があった。少し変な匂いがしたと思うけど、気のせいだったかな？ドラグの売り場みたいだったから、本当に面白かった。(^_^)　写真部を見つけて、部長と話した。部員は驚いたと思う。そのうえ、僕は写真部の部屋の中に写真を撮ったら、みんなをびっくりさせたんだろう。

最後に社会学の先生のゼミに参加しに行った。日本語の授業のように、最初は紹介とかのことだけど、他己紹介をした時、僕は「こちらは」と使った。笑　勉強したことをすぐに使えてよかった。授業の内容だけじゃなくて、先生の教え方に注目しようとする。最初に変だなと思ったことを先生はしたけど、すぐに意見を作ってはダメだから、今何も悪く思わず、「そうかそうか、興味深い。もっと研究するんだ」と思って進む。

次の日、基礎経済学という授業に参加しに行った。前のクラスの教室より大きい教室にあって、人数が多かったので、「これは普通な大学の教室だな」と思った。経済の基本がわかるので、分かった言葉はあったけど、先生の言ったことを60%ぐらいしか理解しなかった。数学は苦手だから、また基礎経済学に行くかどうか決めていない。後で多文化コミュニケーションという授業もとったけど、特に面白いことは起こらなかった。

でも、授業の後、昼ご飯を食べに行く途中に、英会話部の部長に出会って、彼と一緒に食堂に食べに行った。彼と食べているとき、後ろに座っていた女の子は「Excuse me」って英語で言って、彼女と彼女の友達と少し喋った。オーストラリアに留学してほしいと言った。結局、彼女は英会話部に参加するみたいだけど、すぐに参加することができなさそうだ。今日も女の子に話しかけたので、なんか変な感じがする。アメリカでは女の子に話しかけられたことがないから。白人は日本人に魅力的だな。

昼ご飯の後、英会話の授業に参加しに行った。日本で英語教師になるために、英語の先生の教え方を見るのがいいと思った。やっぱり勉強になった。英会話の授業に２つ参加した。一つ目では本当に頭がいい学生と話した。彼は経済論に興味があるので、僕たちは経済のことを少し喋った。また話す機会があるので、彼と経済について話すのを楽しみ。

二つ目の英会話の授業の後、先生と話して、彼の部屋に行って、本を貸してくれた。本当にいい話ができたので、これから、先生は僕と協力してくれるかもしれない。そのために、僕は頑張らないとな！

昨日、授業はなかったけど、新入した学生のための祭りがあったから、学校に行った。祭りを待っていた時、先週に出会った学生に話しかけられた。彼は音楽に中心して学部に入っている。彼に連れて行って、その学部とか弓道部に見学しに行った。彼のおかげで、いろいろな学部を見たので、感謝している。彼も祭りに行ったけど、３年生なので、恥ずかしいって。おなかが空いていたから、祭りはまだまだのときに帰った。でも、いい経験になった。

 

＊＊＊

Although my first week of school isn't over yet, I've had so many experiences that I want to talk about that I decided to write about them now.

My first class was Japanese language and culture. This week, all the classes I'm taking begin with introductions and explanations about the class so they haven't been very interesting yet, but in the Japanese class, instead of doing a self-introduction, we introduced someone else. We were divided into pairs and asked our partners questions about themselves. Afterward, we introduced our partner to the rest of the class. We don't have anything like that in the US, so I made a bit of a mistake. When I tried to introduce my partner to the class, I made a simple grammatical mistake at which everybody laughed. Fortunately, the teacher told me the correct word to use. I had actually learned it before, but I haven't really had many opportunities to use it, so that's why I made the mistake. It was a bit embarrassing, but I'm sure I won't make that same mistake again. (;^_^)

After Japanese class was over, I went looking for the photography club. When I did, I went inside the "club house" building. That building is a bit spooky. It reminds me of the anime "Dusk Maiden of Amnesia". Inside it's dark and the walls and floor are cracked and filthy. I think I also smelled something weird, but maybe it was just my imagination? It looks like a place you'd go to buy drugs, so it was pretty funny. I found the photography club and talked to the club leader. The people there seemed rather surprised to see me. On top of that, when I took a picture inside the club's room, I think I surprised everybody!

I finally went to join a sociology teacher's seminar discussion. As in the Japanese class, the beginning was just introductions and whatnot, but when we did the whole introduce-your-partner thing, I made sure to use the right grammar to introduce my partner! It was nice to be able to use what I had learned right away. I paid attention to not only the contents of the class, but also to how the teacher worked. At first the teacher did some stuff that I thought was weird, but it's not good to form an opinion right away, so right now I just need to do some more research and not make a hasty judgment.

The next day, I took a class on the foundations of economics. The classroom was much bigger than the ones for my previous classes, and the amount of people their was much great, too. It seemed like a more typical kind of college class. I know the basics of economics already, so there were some words that I understood, but I probably only understood about 60% of what the teacher was saying. I'm not so good at math, so I'm not sure I'll be going back. Afterward, I went to an intercultural communications class, but there isn't much to report about it right now.

However, after class, while I was on my way to go have lunch, the leader of the English conversation club came up to me and asked if I'd like to have lunch with him, so we went to the cafeteria together. While we were eating, a girl that was sitting behind us said, "Excuse me" in English and started a conversation with us. She said that she wanted to study in Australia. In the end, it looks like she and a friend of hers will be joining the club, although probably not right away. Something similar happened again today, so I feel a bit strange. No random girls in the US have ever tried to start a conversation with me before. I suppose white people are appealing to Japanese people.

After lunch, I went to the English conversation class. In order to be an English teacher in Japan, I figured it would be good to actually see a teacher teaching in Japan. It turned out to be good idea. I joined to classes. In the first one, I talked to a really smart student. He is interested in economic theory, so we had a short chat about economics. I'm sure we'll have more opportunities to talk, so I'm sure we'll have more interesting conversations in the future.

After the second English class was over, I talked to the teacher, went to his office, and borrowed a book from him. We had a good conversation with each other, so I think he'll probably help me in the future. I need to do my best to get his help!

Yesterday, I didn't have any class, but there was a festival for new students, so I went to school. While I was waiting for it to begin, one of the students I met last week talked to me. He is in a club focused on music. I followed him to his club room, then he took me to several other clubs including the archery club. Thanks to him, I was able to see a bunch of the clubs, so I'm grateful to him. He went with me to the festival, but since he is a Junior at the college, he said he was a bit embarrassed. I was hungry, so I left before the festival was over. But, it was a good experience for me.